Aspen / Snowmass’s coal mine methane project

The second episode of Our Story is now live on www.aspensnowmass.com/ourstory. In a six-part video series, Our Storychronicles the people and places that make Aspen/Snowmass unique. Today's story is the Coal Mine Methane Project.

Aspen/Snowmass has invested in a three-megawatt power plant at Oxbow's Elk Creek Mine in Somerset, Colo. to generate electricity by capturing and combusting waste methane gas emitted from the mine. The company now generates as much energy as it uses during an entire year of operation from this unlikely partner. This type of clean energy collaboration is a business first in the United States.

"We love this project because it's bipartisan, it's has a huge impact on cutting greenhouse gases and it makes money," says Auden Schendler, VP of Sustainability, Aspen Skiing Company. "It's the only project of its kind in the West right now but we want to do many more."

Every Tuesday through November 12, 2013, a new Our Story episode will be live. Visit www.aspensnowmass.com/ourstory to see the schedule and sign up to have the weekly video releases to come straight to your email inbox.